Over the next few days, Ethan remained at the wooden house of his newly purchased property.
Using the remaining five million dollars he had left; Ethan bought a range of devices available to civilians mostly computers.
Although civilian technologies were bound to be insufficient for him, Ethan was not in a hurry. Also, the space inside the wooden house will surely be not sufficient enough to house big and heavy computers.
Given time, he could develop everything on his own. The real problem lay in acquiring restricted minerals or elements. Additionally, he might need to build a large manufacturing base for himself, which he was still uncertain about.
Meanwhile, construction on his mansion was progressing at an extremely fast pace. Under his insistence, Alice had doubled both the labour force and the number of machines working on the project. It was estimated that all major construction would be completed within two months, with the remaining minor work taking another one month.
Ethan was currently driving his newly purchased car, of course it had been purchased by Tony's money, toward New York City.
His purpose? To meet a certain someone—Katie Smith, the president of a newly established start up- AI Solutions.
From what Ethan had gathered, Katie was around 30 years old and had founded her start up four years ago. She had completed her master's degree in the field of Artificial Intelligence and, after spending a few short months working at two major companies, decided to establish her own business.
AI Solutions focused on providing basic AI products that could be useful in day-to-day life- such as optimizing search results or organizing items based on a user's past selections. However, the company was currently performing below average, with debt piling up.
Ethan, though he had many ways to acquire money, wanted a legal and stable source of income. While he was more than capable of building a company or enterprise on his own, he had no desire to be involved in daily business operations. What he needed was capable subordinates someone like what Pepper Potts was to Tony Stark.
Additionally, starting a company from scratch would require extensive work, from logistics to hiring manpower to securing various permissions. To solve all these problems in one move, he had decided to acquire a stake in AI Solutions.
After driving for a few hours, Ethan finally arrived at his destination. AI Solutions' office was not located in one of New York City's prime business areas but rather in a district slightly removed from the city's core where many rising companies, industries, and start ups had established themselves.
Ethan entered the building and made his way to the third floor.
"Good afternoon, Miss," Ethan greeted the receptionist.
The receptionist was momentarily dazed as she took in his appearance. He was no longer dressed in tattered clothes, nor did he have the dirty, dusty look from before. Instead, he wore a casual shirt and jeans, looking effortlessly extremely charming.
"Lily," the receptionist introduced herself, blinking out of her daze. "Good morning, sir."
"Ah! Miss Lily," Ethan said with a smile. "I'm Ethan. I have an appointment with your president."
Lily checked her laptop and nodded. "Yes, sir. Please follow me."
Ethan followed Lily down the hallway until they stopped in front of a door with a nameplate that read Katie Smith.
"Here we are, sir," Lily said.
"Thank you, Miss Lily," Ethan replied, flashing her a wink. "See you later."
Lily's face turned red, and she could only nod in embarrassment.
Ethan chuckled at the receptionist's reaction, knocked twice on the door, and walked inside.
The office was simple and unassuming. A small room with a desk and chair placed at one end.
Seated behind the desk was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and brown eyes. She had a well-built figure and exuded a professional aura. The tight-fitting suit she wore accentuated her curves.
"Miss Katie," Ethan greeted as he walked closer to the desk.
"I'm Ethan Alcardo," he said as he extended his hand for a handshake.
Katie's expression remained unchanged as she shook his hand and gestured for him to sit.
"Mr. Ethan, take a seat," she said.
Ethan sat down, and for a few moments, silence filled the room. It was Katie who finally spoke first.
"Mr. Ethan," she began, "in your email, you mentioned a business proposal that could resolve all my problems. You were quite honest in admitting that your consultancy firm is newly established and that your first client was Tony Stark."
"You also informed me of a successful deal between your firm and Mr. Stark, which was verified by your bank statement," she said wondering what kind could deal result in a payment of 100 million dollars.
She leaned forward slightly, "Although Mr. Stark's recent actions don't exactly paint a bright future for him or Stark Industries… your deal with him was the only reason I agreed to this meeting."
She folded her hands together as he said, "Now, I'd like to hear your proposal."
Ethan smiled and stated, "I promise this deal will propel your company into the ranks of the world's top enterprises."
"Miss Katie, the vision with which you founded AI Solutions was undoubtedly a great one, but the market has become fiercely competitive. There's no doubt that AI is the future, and affordable AI-powered products will dominate the market," he continued.
"However, despite this potential, your company has struggled to make a name for itself because it lacks innovation and better products."
"What you offer to consumers is not new. Your products are the same as those of many other companies, and even the user interface is not as refined. Your algorithms do not truly act intelligently- they at best seems to compile information from internet and hardly have any innovation," he said, "and what it results? Your users are mostly left in disappointment."
Ethan leaned forward. "What I'm offering you is the solution to all of these problems."
With that, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a hard drive, and placed it on the table.
Bold, dark letters across the device read: AI-OMNI 1.0.
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